Not Quite Tradition, But Close
by Honored Countess
Summary: Futuristic take on what happens when Merida and her brothers are all grown up and the land is in turmoil. When Merida has to get married, but not to anyone she ever thought. One shot. Just to get the idea out of my mind. Rated for the taboo marriage proposal, but not particularly 'bad' beyond that.


I had to. I just... had to. This idea has been pestering me since I -saw- this movie in theaters. Because I'm weird and messed up and I ono. 8D I want to keep going with this and I might revisit it. Because, ya know, fun times. I do so love ruining innocent things. Obviously, this is a fanfiction from Pixar's Brave Movie. I don't own the characters, I just set up the scene.

Enjoy.

* * *

She'd removed herself from the outer ward as soon as she'd been certain her men were tended. The ambush had been brutal and those that had survived the trek back, through the night and down poor, deserved the hard earned rest. The invading men had struck out of the shadowed woods like specters, cloaked in armor smeared with something that had allowed them to hide even in a place she'd grown up. Shadows that had been familiar to her as a girl turned deadly when the foreigners seemed to materialize out of them, striking down her force. Merida led archers, not swordsman clad in armor with steel. Never mind they'd been scouting, in their own territory no less!

It was supposed to have been a safe trip, an easy journey.

She stepped into her warmly lit room, glancing at the already stoked fire. Someone had preemptively started it, probably when she'd been settling in her own men. She idly wondered if it was a brother, but they'd been out for weeks now. Hitting the front lines of the confrontation with what was left of the gathered clans. They'd hoped to salvage whatever they could of Macintosh and bring the survivors back to their home. Since the invading foreigners had struck on their Macintosh shores, their castle had been the first to fall. Before anyone could even begin to react. By the time Merida's parents had received word of the horrid news, the intruders had begun to press the attack on their own outlying lands.

How long ago was that?

She sat on the edge of her bed in her dirtied leather armor. Despite the years her mother had been gone, she could still imagine the chiding tone at fouling the bedfurs. She should undress, pull off her muddied pants and boots. But she was so tired. From running, shooting arrows – the sheer adrenaline rush of a night fight and a struggle to make it back home. Merida didn't want to face the morning, didn't want to think about the men that she'd lost this night and so many nights before. How long could a war last? Just as she began to lean down and unlace her boots with a faint grunt, her heavy wooden door swung open with little preamble. She was on her feet in an instant, reaching for something to use as a weapon. A knife she kept tucked in the furs at all times.

"Whoa, lass," Harris teased as he eased his way into the room. As strikingly built as any fighter, his crop of red curly hair was pulled back and tied close to the back of his neck with leather cord. It was clear he'd already seen a bath since having come back given he was out of his armor and actually clean. His twin, Hubert, followed in behind. Though their base physicality was the same, Hubert had suffered a wicked injury that had split his jaw early in the confrontation. He couldn't talk anymore, could barely smile, and his smooth features were ruined by the jagged scar on the right side of his face. But in his own way, Hubert did smile for her as he stepped in and moved to prod her fire, coaxing more life into it. Hamish, the last of the triplets, shut the door behind him before moving to scoop her up in a tight hug. Subtly taller than the previous two and infinitely more devious, he planted an affectionate kiss on her cheek before asking, "We'd heard of yer struggle."

Merida clung to him, relieved to see all three had survived their trip. She could not help but hold her breath after ever excursion. Wondering if maybe, this time, she'd lose a brother instead of a comrade. "It was awful," she murmured, burying her face against Hamish's neck. His embrace created the illusion of safety.

"Ya weren't meant ta be in that sorta fight, Merida," Harris commented as his steps brought him closer.

"They shouldn'ta even been tha' close," Hamish added darkly, a hand combing through her own wild red hair. "Ah, Sis'. Yer a mess." His tone had softened with affection as his fingers snagged on the dried mud in her hair. Or was it blood? A new touch, along her side, made her flinch.

"What's this?" Hamish set her on her feet and held her at arm's length as Harris gingerly explored her side with his hand.

"Yer shirt's been cut," Harris commented, fingers brushing against her skin when he found the tear in the fabric. "Yer lucky ya weren't cut, Sis. Just bruised." He began to look her over again, hands trailing along her arms and inspecting her as thoroughly as a butcher would his meat. It brought a faint, embarrassed smile to her lips. They were always so worried.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Others are much worse." Hamish's grave expression did little to comfort her on the matter.

"That's actually wha' we needed ta talk about, Sis." Hamish spared a glance at Hubert, who moved away from the fire and took a seat on the bed almost directly behind her. It was only then that Hamish continued. "Lord Macguffin fell in the last fight. We saved his castle, the walls still hold… He gave his lands and title ta Harris before his wounds took him."

Merida stared for the longest of moments before turning her attention to Harris, who had finished his inspection and, for a moment, had the grace to look embarrassed. "I'd been leading his men alongside him fer almost two years, Sis. With no wife, no children… " Harris cleared his throat, opting not to touch on the matter that MacGuffin had been trying to court Merida in the midst of all the war. "We're losing men with the experience ta lead, or a'least those who still claim some rank."

Merida rolled her eyes as she moved away from her brothers, sighing as she did so. "Despite everything tha's going on, you're worried about nobility and…" Hamish cut her off as he moved with her, pulling her close to him by her hand. Not hard, but insistent. Given he was nearly three heads taller than she and far stronger, Merida would be hard pressed to truly resist regardless.

"Whoa, lass," he chided. "Do we let tha invaders take even that from us?" A quick glance to the other two told Merida that the triplets stood united in this idea.

"Fine," she huffed, resigned. She'd left it to them to lead this anyways. It'd been enough of a struggle to get her own group of archers, to train men to shoot as well as she did and join battle with her brothers. Women, traditionally, did not fight. "Fine. So what does tha mean? I should address Harris as Lord MacGuffin?" She'd meant it as a joke and, thankfully, it had the desired effect of alighting smiles on her brother's faces. Even Hubert offered a private, near playful wink.

"Not quite," Hamish admonished before his smile vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. "But when we met with Dingwall ta tell him wha happened…"

Harris stepped up to Merida, sparing a look at Hamish. Whatever it was that would be said, it'd already been decided Harris would be the one delivering the news. "Dingwall was near ready ta fight us. First we took in Macintosh, now we have MacGuffin's lands and estate. He's saying that we're trying to take over the clans, using the invaders to try and …" He didn't get to finish before Merida threw her hands up.

"What a stupid thing ta even say! We're suffering just as much as they are! We lost our Da and Mum and…" But she didn't get to finish as Harris' smile, bittersweet, ended her tirade before it could build up steam. Or was it the recent fight that had quenched the usual fire that was so quick to flare up in her chest? "So are we ta fight Dingwall too?"

The triplets shared a look, as they often did. It used to unnerve Merida how much they could communicate in such a quick glimpse between them. But now? She simply waited to see which would reveal what it meant. Hamish looked away from Merida, turning his attention to the fire. Even Hubert found something more interesting on the floor. Harris took both of her hands in one of his and tried a smile. She'd have been suspicious, but of all the triplets he was one that took his responsibilities as serious as any of them might. It was no wonder MacGuffin felt he could trust his estate, his land, his people, and his castle in Harris' care. "Dingwall wants us ta marry ya off ta him," he began, but squeezed her hand in a request that she allow him to continue. Never mind the issues they'd all had in the past with the various clans trying to claim Merida in some form or fashion. Though the anger of past was quick to rise up in her chest, she waited to hear what he'd add. Surely her brothers wouldn't do exactly as her parents had tried to all those years ago… "And we all think it's going ta be an issue so long as yer not married, Sis. So we thought, with what is left of Macintosh and now MacGuffin in our clan, and we all know you hate Dingwall… Your only option left is ta marry us."

For the longest of moments, it was only the cackling of the fire that filled the quiet room as she stared at her brother. Then, slowly, she shifted her attention to Hamish. He was looking right back at her, with eyes so strikingly familiar and green. And finally Hubert, who seemed embarrassed but did not look away from her. Merida couldn't begin to find the words to respond save for the same indignation that they insist she marry. She opened her mouth to shoot down her brothers in the same way she had MacGuffin and in the same way she would Dingwall, if she must… But Hamish was faster. He crossed the space of the room, swept her up in his arms, and kissed her in a fashion that she'd never been kissed before, let alone in a way that a brother should kiss his sister. Her hands gripped his shoulders but she found no strength to push him away, confused and shocked.

Marry? Hamish? Hubert? Harris? Her younger brothers? Why did it seem that was the only thing those around her insisted she do? MacGuffin had only wanted her as a wife, never as a scout. He'd opposed allowing her to lead men at all… Merida's thoughts were banished when hands – not Hamish's as they were soundly holding her against him – gently slid up her back then gingerly pulled her hair aside. "We're not sure what else ta do, Merida," Harris whispered softly, kissing her shoulder. "We just want ta take care of you."

"Just let us, eh lass?" Hamish murmured against her mouth, ending the kiss but in no way letting her move away from him. He smiled, a sheepish, suddenly boyish smile that made her blush.


End file.
